I haven't been all that vocal lately. So I thought I might take a moment to write an update. And to share some seriously delicious recipes I've messed with recently.

For those who care and didn't catch my status, I made it across the monkey bars. I'd like to try to go across and back now, but the opportunity hasn't presented itself. Yet.

Those on my friend's list might notice I haven't lost much lately. There are many reasons for that, one being I'm 10lb to goal and my body is being a total turd. Another being that I decided to take a maintenance break, but then couldn't force myself to bring the calories back down. I would do alright during the week, but completely blow it calorie-wise on the weekends. Yeah, I'm a dummy. But I'm finding it difficult.

Another change has been that I'd taken a week to give myself a small carb break. As in just high enough to stay out of ketosis. Wait. Wasn't I supposed to be carb-cycling (like CarbNite)? I was, but I wouldn't get back into ketosis until the day before the next carb-up. It worked to lose weight twice, then stopped. And the in-and-out was stressing my body out. When something isn't working, and especially if it's detrimental, it makes sense to change things up. Otherwise you are just a masochist. And I AM crazy, but not that crazy.

So...under 100g total has been a challenge, since unless I eat some bread and/or an apple or banana, I'm having a really hard time getting enough carbs. Ridiculous, no? But that's how it is. I could go sugar crazy, but I had a cheat weekend earlier this month. Donuts plus cookies summed up to "I've never been so sick" and "I felt like I was having natural childbirth." I'd rather die than eat that stuff again. Ew Ew Ew! At least I feel that way right now.

Even though I quest to hit the 100g, I keep trending back downward. Most days I barely break 85 and that's after having fruit. Without fruit, it's more like 65 or 70. And since my sleep has been less than stellar (and my skin... good LORD, I'm 36 not 15!) I'm thinking about working on keeping it to 50g net and see how that feels.

Since I've switched to sugar-burning, I've gained from 156.2 to 160.8. I know it's water, and I expected it, so I'm not freaking out. My workouts are doing fine so far as well.

I've also managed to spread my insane, low-carb plague to a few people. My best friend, my other best friend and her husband, my MIL, and the Hub's aunt. I'm hoping to infect my diabetic mother soon. The seeds have been planted, I'm just waiting for them to bear fruit. The wild thing is that I haven't been evangelizing or anything. People have just asked me what I did to transform my body and health, and I just plainly told them and answered other questions when asked. My friend's hubby, aforementioned, came to me asking for help as he was diagnosed prediabetic and his trigs were 800. I'm accidentally helping people. Paying it forward...well, seeing how happy they are with their improving health makes me happy as well.

Soccer season is upon us, and all 4 kids are playing this year. Which means 4 nights a week are occupied by practices...to say we are busy is an understatement.

Ok, crazy-lady, shut up now. It's time for the recipes.

Zucchini Bread

2 eggs

1/2 cup coconut oil

Artificial sweetener equal to 1/2 cup sugar (I use liquid sucralose. If you like it super-sweet, do 3/4 cup equivalent)*

1 cup shredded zucchini

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup almond flour

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour one 8x4 inch or 7.5x3 inch loaf pan. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until light and frothy. Mix in the oil and sweetener. Stir in the zucchini and vanilla. Combine the flour, cinnamon, soda, baking powder, salt and nuts and stir them into the egg mixture. Spoon the batter into a greased and floured loaf pan. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the loaf comes out clean.

*The original recipe called for a full cup of sugar equivalent of artificial sweetener. It was way too sweet. So next time, I'm cutting down to the above.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large coffee mug or cup or a individual microwave souffle dish that has been greased or sprayed with Pam. Add egg and butter; mix well. Microwave for 50-seconds to 1-minute. Depends on your micro. (Mine took 1min 20sec.) Muffin usually pops right out.

Slice in half and butter or use cream cheese.

You can toast them after they are halved also.

You can add berries sometimes, nuts, shredded zucchini or carrot, different spices.

Or eliminate the sweet and add spices and cheese and make it savory.

DE-friggin-LICIOUS. I might just have this every morning for breakfast forever in different variations.

Bodyweight workout today. Hoping to get to stomp around my yard in the sunshine as well. And cracking the whip so the kids will clean up their ungodly mess